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“Thanks, Monroe.”
The man inclined his head through the window. Eli and I watched him peel out of the parking lot and take off.
Our break in the Estate was over. Uncle Harrison gave us a few days, which in the end Eli and I did need, and then returned us to school first thing Wednesday morning.
“It’s weird being back,” Eli signed. “When we were driving over the bridge, all I could think was how much I didn’t want to be here. I’ll miss Tatum and everything but Raven River hasn’t felt like home for a long time.”
I hugged him tight, dropping a kiss on his forehead.
“When are you going to talk to Uncle about New York? My application for Chapman is finished.”
“Soon. Possibly this weekend. There are a lot of important conversations I need to have.” I flicked his nose. “First of all with you.”
“Me?”
I nodded. It was strange keeping a secret as big as my pregnancy from Eli. Especially because I told him almost everything. In this case, it didn’t seem right to tell my brother before I told the fathers.
“Tonight or tomorrow, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Excuse me, sir. Ma’am?” A guard waved from the other side of the gate. “I need you to step inside now.”
Security was a growing presence on campus. I counted more guards on my way through the gates and passed underneath the ladder of the man installing new cameras over the entrance. The concern was understandable considering the shooter was still on the loose.
Eli and I broke apart at the bottom of the stairs. I continued on, my mind turning to Clay and Hiro. It was time they knew about the baby. I wasn’t willing to do it over the phone though we did talk over the last few days and I reassured them that I was okay and wasn’t planning to meet Rio alone again anytime soon.
Walking into homeroom, Cassius’s empty chair was a pang through my chest. Every minute was tinged sour for him not with me.
Clay stood and enfolded me, warm and forgiving. “I love you,” he whispered into my neck.
“I love you too. Later can we talk?”
“Of course.”
I sat down, sliding a smile to Hiro. I hadn’t told him that I knew about his proposition to Rio. That was another conversation you didn’t have over the phone.
Classes were beginning to return to normal as students came back to school. The remaining absences were noticeable, but what mattered was who was there. Like Julian.
As morning classes let out, I caught him on his way out of the cafeteria, carrying his tray up to his dorm for lunch. I shot a quick text to Clay and ran up to him.
“Hey, Julian.”
“Ember, what’s up?”
“Do you have a minute? We could go up to your room and talk.”
“About?”
I looked him in those otherworldly eyes. “Nolan.”
“You want to know where I think he is,” he said, cutting straight to the point.
“Got it in one.”
“Yeah, we can talk in my room.” Julian held the door for me to go in ahead of him. “I’m surprised you didn’t ask sooner.”
“I thought I shouldn’t tempt myself. If I got my hands on him before the police, there wouldn’t be enough of him left to handcuff.”
Julian raised a brow. “What changed?”
“He’s been free long enough. It’s time he paid for what he did.”
Julian didn’t reply. He said nothing as we entered the elevator. I cut eyes to him, wondering what he was thinking.
“Are you okay with helping me?”
“Nolan’s not the guy I knew. If he’s out there planning to hurt people, one of them my cousin, he has to be stopped.”
“Thank you.”
Together we crossed to the boys’ hall, heading to his room. “What do you know?” I asked. “Has he tried to contact you?”
“Nothing. Not even an ‘I’m sorry for shooting you’ text.” Julian shoved open the door to his now single room. “I can tell you the same thing I told the police. I can show you too.” He set his tray on the desk and woke up his laptop. “His family has a boat they keep out on the river. It’s got a bed, toilet, and a fridge.”
Julian pulled up photos of little Julian, Leo, and Nolan. They beamed at the cameras with missing-tooth smiles and waved from the deck of a boat that closer fit a yacht.
“His dad also keeps an apartment in Easthaven for business.”
Amazingly, Julian had photos of that place too. The boys were much older in those shots and partying hard with the other Raveners. He flipped through pics of a decadent penthouse loft.
“I can give you the address and tell you where the boat is usually docked. The police checked them both out, but the RRPD doesn’t stretch to round-the-clock guards. He could still be hiding there.”
“Yes to both,” I replied. “Thanks, Julian. This is exactly what I’m looking for.”
Julian tore a page out of his notebook and scribbled the information. He folded it but didn’t hand it over. I frowned as he gazed unfocused at the paper.
“I broke up with Pomona.”
“You did? Wow. Good for you.”
He bobbed his head. “Did it on Sunday. Want to know how long it took her to start officially going out with Lighthouse?”
I winced. “Monday?”
“Sunday night.”
“Yikes,” I hissed. “He’s my friend but... that hurts. I’m sorry, Julian.”
“Don’t be. There’s nothing holding me back now. It’s like you said, Ember. At Stanford, I won’t be the guy whose girlfriend cheated on him. Best friend shot him. Or dad ditched him. I’ll just be Julian.” He glanced around. “This place feels like everything—the whole world in one town. We forget there’s life outside of it. Maybe even a better one.”
I caressed my bump. “That’s what I’m counting on.”
Julian shook himself. “Anyway, here you go. Hope this helps.”
“Me too,” I whispered.
I said bye and left him to his lunch. I shut the door behind me just as Clay strode into the hall.
“Em? What are you doing in Hart’s room?”
“Asking him where to start the search for Nolan.”
His gaze sharpened. “What did he say?”
I held up the piece of paper. “Let’s go in your room.”
Clay followed me back and got the paper from me. We went inside and I dropped on Cassius’s bed, burying my nose in his pillow and inhaling his faint scent.
“I’ll check these out,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense going to these places one by one. We’ll find him quicker if we split up.”
“It doesn’t make sense to ambush Nolan alone when we know he has a gun.”
“That shit can’t take me.” Clay picked up my feet and put them in his lap. “Hiro will go to Easthaven. You and Royal hit the Estate and talk to his parents.”
I rubbed his arm. “How are you, Clay? You don’t have to be strong for me.”
“Yes, I do, Em,” he said quietly. “If I’m anything else, I’m letting myself believe Rio’s going to kill him. I can’t go there. Cas has been two feet from me my whole life. That won’t change.”
“No, it won’t.” Rising up, I cradled him to my chest and laid us both down. “I have something to tell you.”
“That you plan on comforting me sexually in my time of need?” Clay kissed my collarbone. “I approve.”
“No,” I said. “Well, yes, but no. What I was going to say is... I’m pregnant.”
The kissing stopped. “What?”
“I’m pregnant, Clay. I’ve known since your mom told me.”
“My mom?” he sputtered. “How did she know?!”
I calmed him down, telling him everything from the beginning. Clay listened in slack-jawed, big-eyed silence. If I’d never seen worry on his face, I’d certainly never seen that expression either.
“I’m more than two months along,” I said. “She’ll be born a little while after we graduate. If your plans still include me, we’ll start our lives together—the six of us.”
Clay frowned. “If my plans still include you? What the hell does that mean?”
I swallowed. “You have to get your parents in a better situation, Clay. It’s important. So important, I’d understand if you can’t choose me and her. Folkstone is expensive, and you didn’t factor a baby into the budget.”
“Oh, I see. You’ve somehow gotten it into your head that you’re less important than my family.”
Scrunching up, I made myself small, hugging my knees. “I can’t ask you to compromise what’s best for them for what’s best for me.”
“It’s not either or, Em. And it’s not a question of if I’ll be there for my kid. I will be. She better get ready because I’ll be two feet from her every day of her life.”
Tears prickled my eyes. “I swear it’s pregnancy hormones. I won’t always cry this much.”
Chuckling, he gathered me in his arms. “You can cry as much as you want, baby. I’m not going anywhere.”
I did cry. A lot. Bawled into his chest as the fear I felt for Cassius and the pain of keeping my secret bubbled over. Clay was solid. He whispered in my ear, soothing and assured, promising me everything would be okay.
***
AFTER CLAY’S AND ROYAL’S amazing responses, it seemed almost greedy to expect the same from Hiro.
I watched him from the other side of Seeger’s class. We were doing an activity that was kind of like twenty questions. I thought up my dream vacation and Major asked me a bunch of questions to narrow down my destination. The point was to teach us to listen—which I was hardly doing because my attention kept drifting to Hiro and Destiny.
“Is it Bermuda?” he asked.
“Close. Bahamas.”
“Class, that’s it for today,” Seeger called. “Mr. Saito, may I speak to you up here?”
The class packed up and filed out. I hung back, waiting for Hiro to wrap up his conversation with Seeger. Our teacher noticed me in the back.
“Ember, do you need something?”
“Uhh, no. Sorry.”
I brushed past him walking out.
“If you could stack them up on the counter, that would be great,” Seeger told him. “The cushions I’m moving to the front cabinets, and the board games to the back.”
“I’ll get it done, Mrs. Seeger.”
“You’re a lifesaver, Hiro. With everything that’s happened, my husband is concerned about late evenings in the school by myself.”
Escaping into the hall, the door closed on their chat. Hiro was arranging another classroom cleanup. I leaned on the lockers to wait for Seeger to leave.
My phone went off in my backpack. I checked the screen and didn’t recognize the number. I’d gotten more than a few calls from reporters. They were nothing if not persistent.
“Hello?”
“Hello. Is this Ember Bancroft?” A deep, masculine voice filled my ear.
“Yes, I’m Ember.”
“I’m glad to have reached you, Ember. I have information about your parents’ disappearance.”
I snapped up straight. Every stray thought fled from my head. “What? How? Who is this?”
“I will answer all of your questions, but not over the phone. We have to speak face to face.”
My eyes closed to slits. “Yeah, right, we can’t talk over the phone. Would a secluded alley on the corner of ‘Murder Me Lane’ and ‘I’m An Idiot Street’ be better for you?”
This was the risk of handing out my number to the world. The kooks and creeps were first to pick up the phone.
“Don’t you have anything better to do than mess—”
“Ember, please. This is not a crank call and I wasn’t suggesting an in-person meeting.”
I quieted.
“You’re absolutely right to be cautious,” he continued. “As am I which is why I can’t risk the chance of this talk being overheard or recorded. After I hang up, I will send you a link for a secure video call.”
The man certainly didn’t sound like a kook. Is this for real? Should I trust him?
“Tonight. Nine o’clock. I’ll tell you everything I know.”
He hung up.
A few seconds later, the trill of a new message announced his link. I almost didn’t notice Seeger leaving while I examined it.
It looks legit. Should I go on this call?
So far this man is the only one to contact me with information, another voice spoke up. If there’s even a chance he knows something, I have to listen.
Putting away the phone, I went into the classroom. Hiro was at the back, pulling cushions out of the cabinet and setting them on the floor. I stood for a bit just taking him in. Hiro Saito was the kind of guy you savored.
“Just going to stand there?” he spoke up, his back to me. “Or are you going to help me?”
“Neither. I came to talk to you about something.” I ran my hands up his back, gripped his shoulders and turned him to face me. Hiro locked his arms behind my waist, fitting our bodies together like two corner puzzle pieces.
“Talk to me about what?”
Nerves quickened my pulse and tightened my grip till Hiro’s brows drew together. “I feel like I should build up to it,” I said. “Start off with how much I love you and that we can still make it work. Then tell you that it may be difficult but we’ll have the lives we wanted and we’ll have them together. What could be better than that?”
“Ember, what are you talking about?”
I met those confused eyes, hoping he saw everything I felt and more. “Hiro, I’m pregnant.”
“Oh, that?” His expression cleared. “I know.”
I gaped at him. “What the hell do you mean you know?!”
He shrugged. “My mom ran a daycare, remember? I was always around young moms and babies. I picked up the signs. You’ve been eating healthier, taking vitamins, and on my last tour of your body, I hit on a bump.” Hiro put his hand between us, covering said bump. “You should’ve said you were shy.”
“Why didn’t you say something?”
“Because you’d tell me when you were ready.”
Moaning, I dropped my head on his shoulder. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I think I did both. “I’ve been shitting myself and the whole time you knew.”
“You thought I’d run out because the baby isn’t mine,” he stated.
“It crossed my mind.” My eyes fluttered shut. “But you were planning to run out on me for an entirely different reason.”
Hiro stilled. “Rio told you.”
“In the middle of calling me a parasite that’s destroying the Horsemen and stealing his men. I can’t believe you tried to trade yourself and your college fund to free Cassius and Clay from the gang. You fucking idiot.” My blunt, winning personality always won out.
His laugh rumbled against my cheek. “I thought you’d see it as a romantic, self-sacrificial gesture.”
“What were you thinking? You’re the last one in, so you have to be the first one out? I love you—all of you—the same and there’s no version of reality where I’d survive leaving one of you behind.” I propped my chin on his chest. “Don’t tell me that’s what you were waiting on? You had to know Rio’s answer before you could decide where we stand.”
“He strung me along, playing like he was considering it. After he took Cassius, I offered more money to get him back, and then on Sunday he said none of us were leaving—especially not you. To make up for the insult of trying to get the triplets out, I have to give Rio my college money anyway.”
“That guy is a sun-ripened asshole,” I grumbled.
Hiro cracked a smile. “He is, but he’s an asshole that’s made things simple for me. I’m getting my money back and like fuck he’ll get his hands on it. I think I’ll buy a bus ticket instead. I’ve always wanted to see New York in the winter.”
My lips trembled. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.
“Really?” I glanced down. “You’re choosing us?”
“I chose you both a long time ago.”
I’m definitely going to cry.
“So... if I ask you where we stand?”
Hiro backed away, letting my arms slip through his hands. “You can let this be your answer.” Hiro closed the blinds.
“Oh my gosh,” I whispered—no clue why. “Here?”
“You’re not getting shy on me, are you?”
I giggled. “Definitely not.”
One by one, the blinds shuttered closed on the world. My heart picked up speed as he came for me. I wasn’t expecting that end to my day, but you wouldn’t see me complaining.
Hiro took my hand the way he’d done so many times before. He held it above us, slowly spinning me like a dancer. His chest pressed to my back, chin resting on my shoulder. “I’ve waited a long time to be with you.” His warm breath washed over my neck, enticing a shiver. “I’m taking my time.”
“What if someone catches us?”
“The janitors start on the bottom floor. We’ve got a couple hours at least until they make it this far.”
“Hmm.” I reached behind me, tangling my hands in his hair. “A man that knows the janitorial schedule. That’s wicked sexy.”
Hiro moved down, popping the buttons on my shirt. It fell in a pile at my feet and then my skirt followed.
Suddenly, I was lifted and placed on the cushions. Impossibly tall and inexcusably gorgeous, he towered over me, commanding my gaze as he shed his clothes. I’d seen Hiro naked and each time amended my idea of male beauty. He straddled me and I ran my hands over his chest, stomach, thighs, ass—I couldn’t get enough of him.
Hiro busied with his own exploration. Last time, we left my bra and panties on to not tempt ourselves. Hiro unwrapped me like a present, wiggling my straps down and freeing me to his hungry gaze. He stuck his face between my breasts, groaning like a man three days in the desert who just found water. “We’re together at last.”
“You’re so— Ooh.”
Hiro licked a stripe up the mound and to the tip. His eyes shone with delicious wickedness as he curled his tongue around the pebble, sucking it to a hardened point, and then going down to do it again.
“Holy hell,” I moaned. “This is new.”
My breasts were two scoops of ice cream and Hiro had a sweet tooth even fiercer than mine. He pushed them together, squeezing me tender but insistent, and bounced from one nipple to the other, nipping and teasing them mercilessly.
To say this was working for me was an understatement. Wetness soaked my panties. Lip puffy between my teeth, I clenched my legs as waves of tingling arousal clenched my lower belly. I wanted to lie back and take it slow for him, but it’s been four whole days since the sex demon was fed. She was demanding more and fast.
“Whenever you feel like taking the party downstairs, don’t let me stop you,” I gasped.
He grinned with my nipple between his teeth. “We’re still getting acquainted up here, but feel free to start the party before me.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. I slipped my hand through the lining of my underwear and found my center, rolling the nub between my fingers in time with Hiro’s expert tongue. The combination of his hot mouth and my heightened sensitivity was undoing my self-control faster than normal. My orgasm was coming quick.
I pushed two fingers past my folds, eager to bring about its arrival, and Hiro was there as the first moan breathed out. He cupped my hand and guided his finger inside of me, setting a slow pace at first and quickening as my moans spurred him on. As one we found that spot and Hiro hit it relentlessly.
“Shit!” I cried, arching my back. His mouth on one breast, his thumb tweaking the other, and fingers showing me how to fuck myself, I came so hard, my body jerked me off the cushion and I bumped my head on the cabinet.
My chest rose and fell like tidal waves as I fought to catch my breath. “Damn,” I gasped. “I’m gonna have a lump in the morning.” Sweat stuck me to the cushions and Hiro peeled me off with a satisfying sound, kissing me while he fixed them.
He laid me down, licked my fingers clean, and finally slid my panties over my hips.
Raising my legs, I happily pushed them off. “I don’t have to ask if you’re a virgin,” I said.
Hiro cracked a grin over my knees. “Your way of saying I know what I’m doing?”
“You’re doing it so well, I’m starting to wonder if I know what the hell I’m doing.”
“From what I hear, you know what you’re doing.”
Fire licked at my already heated cheeks. “Please tell me you guys don’t sit around discussing our sex life.”
“Don’t have to. You think I can’t hear you and Royal in the bathroom?”
“Oh no.”
“If I heard right, I’m supposed to finish this by coming on your chest?”
“Hiro!” Laughing, I swatted his arm. “You’ll have to surprise me.”
“Oh, I will.” Hiro draped my legs over his shoulders. “Mind if I get another party going down here?”
I shook my head so hard it could’ve popped off. Maybe it was the danger of being caught or the added spice of making love on the sharing circle cushions but the aftershocks of the first orgasm were still humming through my veins as the second one sat up and begged for Hiro.
He licked and tasted my pussy with the same mind-blowing thoroughness that ravaged my nipples. I tried not to scream, mindful of echoing hallways, but my hands were cupping my breast and pulling his hair. Orgasm two ripped a scream out of me so loud, orgasm three was sure to burst my voice box.
“Someone definitely heard that.” Hiro laughed.
“Who cares.”
Hiro reached for his pants. He dug around and pulled out a condom.
“Dude, get that out of here.” I snatched the thing and flung it across the room. “I’m already pregnant.”
“I’m starting to see how that happened,” he mumbled under his breath.
“Hey,” I cried, cracking up. He did have a point.
“Come here.” Hiro held out his hand, pulling me up. He changed our positions and leaned on the cabinet. His guiding hands on my hips told me where to go.
Excitement built to a fever pitch as I positioned him at my entrance. Finally after all of this time, my last Angel was mine. I swallowed him, head falling back as he filled me whole. Rising on the balls of my feet, I drew almost all the way out and then impaled myself, crying hoarsely.
Up, down, up, and down. My eyes rolled back in my head as we met a punishing pace bounce for thrust. Hiro gripped my hips, either trying to slow me down or losing control because he couldn’t. Overhead, I clung to the door handle, bending over him and moaning as he tasted and indulged the good fortune of breasts bouncing in his face. He came seconds after me, buried to the hilt.
I fell forward and hit my head on the cabinet again. “How long... before the janitor gets here?”
He tugged me down and kissed the crap out of me. “We’ve got time.”
***
HIRO AND I WALKED HAND in hand to the dorm. Mr. Nixon poked his cleaning cart out of Geske’s classroom, waving to us as he moved to tackle the next.
“So, he called me right before we talked,” I continued.
After spending another hour having sex on the cushions, a few desks, and the windowsill, we put the classroom to rights, tackling the projects Mrs. Seeger left Hiro to make up for the unspeakable things we did in her classroom. I began telling Hiro about the strange call I received as we left.
“He said he had to be cautious and we couldn’t speak over the phone.” I passed over my cell. “He gave me this link so we could video chat securely.”
“And when you open this link, it’ll be a naked guy in a dirty bathrobe dancing and whipping his junk in front of the camera.”
I giggled at the image. “That would be a surprise.”
“Seriously, Em. Why the secrecy?”
“I don’t know but he’s the first person to contact me. I’ve officially approached desperate, Hiro. I’ll take Dirty Bathrobe Guy if there’s even a chance he can lead me to my parents.”
“Don’t talk to him alone.”
“It’s a video chat. I’ll be safe in my room. Everything will be fine.”
He snaked an arm around me, pulling me closer. “I don’t like any of this, Em. It doesn’t make sense. Stealing the money but not spending it. Running away in the middle of the night and opening a secret account to give all of the money to you. Unnamed men telling you it’s too dangerous to talk about this on the phone. I don’t want to scare you, but I have a bad feeling about this.”
I leaned my head on his shoulder. “I don’t want to admit it, but I do too. I can’t get past what Cassius said. What have they been doing all of these months without money or a place to live? I accepted the fact that they took off and abandoned me easier than people assumed. These questions coming up are making me ask if I knew anything about my family at all.”
“You knew them, Em.” He rubbed my forearm soothingly. “You know them better than anyone. What does your gut say?”
“It says... that they would take off and leave me behind, but they wouldn’t do it without Eli and they wouldn’t steal from their friends and family. My dad has tried for years to make it up to his brother. Why would he cement his hatred by stealing five million from him and almost wrecking his business? And Eli, he was the baby they poured all of their love into when they stopped loving me.
“I was blinded by their feelings for me, and when the feds laid out the facts, I accepted it with their note burning a hole in my heart. I should have asked these questions from the beginning, Hiro. There’s something not right about this entire situation, and if there’s a chance Dirty Bathrobe Guy has the key, I’ll be in front of my computer tonight at nine o’clock.”
“Okay,” he said. “I understand you have to see this through. All I ask is you don’t disappear on me again. We’re in this together. The five”—he placed a hand on my stomach—“I mean six of us.”
I couldn’t disagree with Hiro even if I wanted to. The six of us were irrevocably tied, and being in that kind of relationship required honesty. We went into the dorm and tracked down Royal and Clay. I told them about the phone call and my impending video chat.
“This guy sounds like a creep,” Clay said.
“You’re not talking to him alone,” Royal added.
“He’s right.”
“That’s what I said,” Hiro threw in.
I heaved a sigh. Apparently being in this kind of relationship also requires extreme overprotectiveness.
“Guys, do I need to repeat that it’s a video chat held within the gates of the most protected place in Raven River? He’s not going to reach through the screen and pull me in. That only happens in the movies.”
“Let us be there,” Clay said.
“I can’t spook him,” I replied. “He’s the only one who has called with information. Feel free to pace outside my door.”
I climbed off Royal’s bed, kissed each of them bye, and traded hallways for mine. Camila was in our room doing what she did every night since Cassius was taken, calling their friends from the old neighborhood to ask if anyone had seen something that could help. Between calls I asked if it was okay for me to have the room that night.
“Sure. Clay and I can do this in his room.”
She packed up to leave. I intercepted her at the door, hugging her from behind. “We’ll get him back.”
“In exchange for Nolan.” She spat the name. “I’ve been racking my brain for a place he might have mentioned or somewhere we went together. He didn’t like hanging out in the OB, so we spent every date in the Estate. The only possible places he could be holed up in is the country club, the inn where we were together for the first time, and his own house.”
“His house?”
“You’ve visited the place. They have thirteen bedrooms, two kitchens, a basement, and a converted attic. He could be tucked away somewhere in there and who would know?” She slumped. “But he’s not and that’s why I’m useless. I thought I was in love with that guy and it turned out I didn’t know him at all.”
“We will find Nolan, Camila, and get Cassius back if I have to search all thirteen of those bedrooms myself.”
She hugged me back and said goodnight.
I sat down at my computer, hours early, and failed to distract myself with two movies and a computer game. The whole time I questioned if I should call Eli.
They are his parents, one voice said.
If he intends to flash me his junk, Eli doesn’t need to see it too, said another.
And if it’s bad news, said my voice of reason. It should come from me instead of being delivered by a complete stranger.
By the time the clock struck nine, I was seated, ready, and alone.
The video chat app was one I didn’t know. GenChat had a sleek, black interface and a tiny notification bubble that told me to wait for the host to initiate the call. I clenched my fists as 9:00 p.m. became 9:01 p.m.
Where are you? Please, this can’t be a trick—
The chat bubble winked out. In place of my blank, black screen sat a man.
I took him in. He was older—around my dad’s age. Simple but stylish round-framed glasses perched on his nose and brown eyes gazed at me through them. The good news was he was fully clothed in a black blazer, red tie, and white shirt. His coarse hair was shorn close to the scalp and his beard neatly trimmed. If he was a kook, he was a well-groomed kook.
“Hello, Ember.” The deep voice of the man from the phone call echoed out of the speakers. “Thank you for speaking with me.”
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Andrew.”
“Andrew.” I tried the name out and it didn’t ring any bells. “You say you have information about my parents, but I haven’t seen you before. They never even mentioned the name Andrew to me. How do you know them?”
“I knew your father long before you arrived, Ember.” He reached for something off camera. Andrew held a photo up.
Squinting, I leaned in closer. Younger, thinner, and sporting more hair, but there was no denying it. The man with his arm around a young Andrew, grinning and tossing a thumbs-up for the picture, was Frank Bancroft. The mass of people serving as their backdrop gave me a hint.
“Is that a college campus?” I asked. “Is that how you know him?”
“Yes.” The picture dropped out of frame and present-day Andrew returned. “Your father and I were best friends in college.”
“If you were best friends, why have I never heard of you?”
“I will explain all of that, Ember, but it’s secondary to the reason I called.” He leaned in, piercing me with his wide, serious gaze. “Your fears were justified. Your parents did not steal that money, and that they haven’t turned up after its return, proves that they are in serious danger. Possibly dead.”
I froze. I think Andrew went on to say more. His lips moved. He tapped the desk with his finger. He held up the picture once again.
A ringing clanged in my ear. Deafening all sound but Andrew’s voice saying two words.
Possibly dead.
“—Ember? Ember, are you listening?”
“Why would you say that?” I rasped, lips numb. “They’re not dead. Why would you say something so awful?”
He held up a hand. “I can’t be sure of course. It’s possible they’re still hiding.”
“Hiding? Hiding from who? The feds?”
“It’d help if I started from the beginning. With the lodge,” he said. “Everything you’ve been told is wrong.”
My head spun. “Everything I’ve been told about the lodge?”
“Yes. Your parents purchased that land legitimately and they had every intention of building that river retreat. But not at any cost. The environmental surveys were completed and the reports handed over to your parents were that they passed with flying colors.”
“No, they didn’t,” I interrupted. “A protected species lives on the land. It’s also a floodplain. The reports said this and they paid to have it buried.”
“Someone paid to have those reports buried and it was not your parents.” His eyes grew huge as he bent toward the camera. “This is what I’m trying to explain to you. Someone other than your parents discovered the results of those reports and they bribed the officials not only to bury the truth, but to pass on falsified documents to your parents.”
I gaped at him. “Why would someone do that?”
“So that construction would continue. They couldn’t risk your parents doing the right thing, so they sought to keep them in ignorance. It might have worked if one of the officials didn’t call your father demanding more money,” Andrew said. “The man decided to try his luck playing both sides of the aisle. If this mysterious person would pay to keep the report secret, how much more would the wealthy couple leading the project pay?
“This ploy backfired. Your father demanded the real report and said he’d sue him and everyone involved in the cover-up. The man panicked and called the original person who made the bribe. The next day Frank received an email threatening to go public with a secret he thought long-buried if he didn’t continue construction.”
Bribes? Blackmail? Long-buried secret?
“How do you know this?” I demanded.
“Because after your father received that email, he called me.”
“Because he thought you could help?”
He shook his head. “Because he thought I was responsible.”
My mouth opened and nothing came out. Who is this man and why do I have a terrible feeling I’d have been better off with a naked guy in a bathrobe?
“There’s a reason Frank didn’t tell you about me,” he went on. “We were roommates freshman year and best friends for all four. In our senior year, a few months before graduation, we went to a party.”
I went rigid. “No good story starts off that way.”
“Ours doesn’t either,” he said gravely. “I was driving, so I stuck to a couple of beers. Your father on the other hand, had just proposed to your mother and was in the mood to celebrate. He was trashed within an hour and making an ass of himself within an hour and ten minutes. He got a little too wild and knocked over a speaker. We were kicked out of the party after that. I felt fine to drive, so we piled in my car, turned up the music, and kept the party going.
“Frank was messing around. Shoving me. Shaking me. Putting his hand over my eyes. Turning the music up louder. And I was goofing off with him. He covered my eyes and I turned on him, laughing as I scuffled with him. I couldn’t have looked away for more than a few seconds and, suddenly, she was there.”
“Oh no...”
“I tried to swerve but it was too late.” Years later, the wretched pain of that night shown clear on his face. “She died on impact.”
“My dad... he never said—”
“Of course not,” Andrew cut in. “We panicked. Frank blamed himself. It was an accident, but a breathalyzer would have picked up that I’d been drinking. Her death would’ve fallen on me and I was the poor kid who fought his way into university while your dad was months away from marrying and living the rest of his life on a tidy trust fund. He couldn’t stand for me to go down because he distracted me.” Andrew released a long sigh. “So, your dad did what he always did when he got in trouble. He called his older brother.”
“Uncle Harrison?”
He nodded. “And your uncle did what he always did. He made the problem go away. Frank told his brother he was the one driving to force his help. Harrison ordered us to leave the scene and then proceeded to pay off the mechanic and a witness. To this day, the hit-and-run death of Kennedy Bryson remains unsolved.”
“I can’t believe this,” I whispered. “And Uncle Harrison?”
My dad and his brother covered up the death of some poor woman. My chest tightened. What horrible twist of fate was it that years later Dad lost Rory in a car accident.
“That was the last straw for your uncle,” Andrew said. “He was done cleaning up your father’s messes and done with your father. And I’m afraid, our relationship wasn’t the same after that. Sharing a secret that terrible tore us apart, but it was a secret the three of us swore to carry to our graves.
“Then, your father received that email promising to reveal the truth of that night if the lodge didn’t go ahead and the first person Frank thought of was me.”
“But it wasn’t you,” I said.
“No. I don’t live in Raven River. I wasn’t an investor. I had no stake in whether or not the project went through. In fact, the first I heard about it was during Frank’s call. With me out of the picture, he had a serious problem. Neither he, Harrison, nor I told anyone, so somehow this person dug up the truth. He asked me for my help to track them down.”
“Why you?”
“We were both mechanical and computer engineering majors. He went the way of domestic bliss while I took a job at Maverick Technologies in the cybersecurity division.”
“He wanted you to trace the email.”
He nodded. “That’s right. Unfortunately, someone with the money to pay tens of thousands in a bribe, also has the money and intelligence to cover their tracks. I hit a dead end.”
“There are quite a few people with money like that in my town,” I said. “Most of them pushed to see this lodge built and dropped millions to make it happen. Any one of the Raveners could’ve found out about the reports.”
“Raveners?” he questioned.
I waved that away. “It doesn’t matter. Keep going. What happened after you hit a dead end?”
“By all appearances, the project went ahead,” he said. “But behind the scenes, your parents worked to collect evidence to find the person and pass it on to the police. They got as far as a description from one of the bribed officials.”
Lurching at him, I asked, “What did they look like?”
“An older man. Late thirties to early forties. Average height. Dark hair. He dressed well and wore dark shades during their dealings.”
“That’s it? Average height and dark hair? That describes most of the men in Raven River.”
“I agree. That description wasn’t enough to go on.” Andrew looked away. “But sadly, it was enough to spook him when he discovered your parents were digging. Shortly after, Frank received an email of an entirely different nature. I assumed the blackmailer figured out the house of cards he was trying to build was doomed to fail, and why take that risk if he could have—”
“All the money the investors put into the lodge instead,” I finished.
He inclined his head. “He had your father over a barrel... or so he thought. Frank replied immediately. Told him to go straight to hell and that he could do his worst. He received another email a few days later with these photos attached.”
Andrew reached out of frame and presented another two photos. I clapped a hand over my mouth.
One photo was of me. I stood on the steps of Wesley High talking to someone who was blurred out. In the other photo, the lens hyper-focused on Eli reading on a bench in the park by our old house. It was obvious neither one of us knew we were being photographed.
“He gave them a deadline and ordered your parents to transfer the money to their account, or you both would be killed. The same went for if they called the police. They swore they would know, just like they knew your parents were trying to get information on them. They were to transfer the money and then disappear. Your parents would be blamed and the investigation wouldn’t look further than them.
“Frank let him know what he thought of that. He was going to the police and wouldn’t hand over a cent of that money. The next day, someone shot at your mom coming out of her office. Came so close to hitting her they blew out the driver’s window as she reached for the handle.”
“Who the fuck is this guy?!” I cried. “Why would they do this?!”
“Twenty-five million dollars, Ember. People have done much worse for a lot less.”
I pushed away from the desk. Pacing the length of the bed, my scrambled brain worked to make sense of this. Someone dug up a terrible secret on Dad, and when that didn’t work, they settled on threatening his children. It was that piece of shit after the lodge money, not Mom and Dad.
“What did they do after that?” I threw at him.
“It was at that point Frank contacted me again. He explained all that happened and asked me for help that I was happy to give. What happened the night of the party was a hideous shame I’ll carry for the rest of my life, but it was also a debt I owed your father.
“Frank came up with the best plan he could think of and I played my part. Risking you or your brother wasn’t an option, which meant agreeing to his terms. Meanwhile, I set up Aurora Fiscal Holdings and made it and the paperwork leading to Charles Magallon Bank untraceable.
“The night they were supposed to transfer the money, I moved it into the account under your name. They left you that note and started the trail that would see the money was returned to the investors. Your parents risked the world believing they were criminals, so they could quietly search for the person after them. They assumed with them and the money out of the picture, he wouldn’t have a reason to hurt you or Eli.”
I sat down hard, legs giving out and narrowly dropping me in the desk chair.
They didn’t leave because they hated me. They left to protect us.
“But where are they now?” I croaked. “Keys and letters and account numbers. Why didn’t Mom and Dad try to contact me for real?”
“I suspect they were trying to protect you. That fool FBI agent put you in enough danger when he announced to the world that the note was a secret message. It’s likely that up to this point, the man who threatened your parents has been watching you. Waiting for you to lead him to the money.”
I shivered. Disgust crawled beneath my skin at the thought of that man’s camera scope focused on me for the last several months.
“And you?” I asked. “You could have told me this months ago. I would’ve known they needed help. I could’ve returned the money sooner!”
Andrew had the decency to lower his head. “Believe me, I wish now that I had, but...”
“But what?”
Shaking his head, his gaze drifted over the laptop. “Your father was insistent that my part end after transferring the money. Running away, hiding, and leaving clues was the best and only way to get through the situation and I wasn’t to do anything else that could put you two in danger. Looking back, I believe he knew, or suspected, something that drove him this far.”
“Suspected something or... someone.” I gripped the laptop. “They’re in trouble, aren’t they, Andrew?”
“They were in trouble when they ran. That they haven’t returned following you giving back the money makes me think that trouble caught up with them,” he said. “I waited for as long as I could allow myself to respect your father’s wishes, but now you need to know.”
“A dark-haired man with a connection to the lodge,” I said to myself. “I’ve been over the victim list a hundred times. If he’s one of the investors, I’ll find him.”
“Months have passed,” he said. “Ember, you should prepare yourself for—”
“No,” I said firmly. “Mom and Dad are out there. They just need my help. I’ll go over the... list... and...” I trailed off. A memory jarred loose.
“Why didn’t Mom and Dad try to contact me for real?”
“They need my help,” I whispered. “Send... help. Send help.”
“Ember, are you all right?
“Andrew...” As if moving through water, I slowly reached for my phone and scrolled down, down, down to the single string of nonsense I dismissed.
034-637-7652: Tgiving 14 years send help. Dont reply!
“Andrew, I think my parents sent me this message.” It sounded like the admission came from someone else. I was outside of my body, looking down at the phone in my hands as how long I let this text sit ignored struck me.
Andrew shot up straight. “Excuse me? What message?”
“It says Tgiving, fourteen years, send help, and don’t reply,” I read. “I brushed this off like an idiot, assuming it was spam, but spam messages don’t tell you not to reply. They want you to click on their phony-ass links and respond to their bots.”
“You’re correct, Ember. They warned you not to reply—”
“Because it’s his phone!” I shot to my feet. “Andrew, can you look up this number? Who is it registered to?”
“I’ll find out, but do you know what the message means?”
I resumed my pacing. “This isn’t nearly as hard as the other clues they gave me. It’s Thanksgiving. Fourteen years ago. And send help doesn’t need to be deciphered.”
“Thanksgiving fourteen years ago? What’s the connection?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I was only four. But I will find out.” I leaned over the desk chair, zooming in on the camera. “Thank you, Andrew. I wish I’d heard from you a lot sooner.”
“I do too.”
“At least you finally made the call. Tell me the millisecond you find out whose number this is.”
“I will.”
I closed the laptop and raced for the door. Bursting outside, I skidded into Clay’s chest.
“Guys.” Hiro, Clay, and Royal posted up against the wall. “I wasn’t serious about you waiting out here for me.”
“We were,” said Hiro.
Clay put his hand on my stomach and wrapped me and Bump in a hug. “Are you okay?”
“No,” I said honestly. “Andrew was the real deal, and you’re not going to believe what he told me...”